Gossamer (9 page)

Standing in the lunch line, I realized just how hungry I was. I hadn’t eaten anything all day, not sure how my stomach would handle food, and now I was famished. I ordered the Triple, which was, of course, a combination of all three. Matt followed my lead and ordered the same. We filled our cups at the fountain machine and found a table. I started on my chef salad while I let my tortilla soup cool. Sitting with him was a bit awkward. We spent time together helping my dad, but we didn’t talk much during that time. I took a bite of salad and smiled at him. I tried thinking of something to talk about, when he spoke up.

“So your dad says you are a senior at Brentwood Prep?”

“Yes, almost out of there. What about you? How long have you been at Brentwood Community College?”

“This is actually my first semester. I got a late start. I took some time off after graduating last year. I traveled a bit, finally settling down here. I enrolled at BCC to get my basic coursework. I guess I will decide where to go from there.”

“Where did you travel?”

“All around, actually. I enjoyed seeing new places, but after a while you want a place to call home.” Matt blew on a spoonful of chicken noodle soup.

“That sounds fun. I’m not sure what to do when I graduate. My parents aren’t really pressuring me, and it’s a hard decision. I’ve already received my acceptance letter from The University of Texas but my dad, of course, has no objection to me going here for a year or two. He likes the idea of me being closer to home and the smaller campus. I guess I should decide soon.”

Matt nodded thoughtfully. “So, when do you have to make a decision?”

“Um, about three weeks ago.” I laughed. “I’ve already submitted my paperwork for UT, but I can change my mind, I guess.”

“Hard decision, but your dad is right. No harm in staying around here.” He smiled.

We ate our sandwiches as our conversation dwindled to eventual silence until Matt’s phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and glanced at the screen. His eyebrows met as he shook his head in apology. “I’m sorry. I have to take this.”

“No problem.” I continued eating my lunch, while Matt answered his ringing phone. The person on the other end was clearly a man, a loud man. I had very good hearing and it had been a bit of joke in my family, but this man spoke so loud I wondered if it was possible
not
to hear him.

I kept my head down eating, trying not to eavesdrop, but the man’s loud voice kept pulling me in. Matt needed to find something for him. The caller sounded upset. He mentioned a deadline and kept stressing the importance of it. Matt tried to get a word in edgewise, but it wasn’t easy.

“Yes, I understand.” Matt stopped short, cut off. “Well I think I have it– Yes. I know it’s important.” His head moved up and down like a bobble head. “It will be done in plenty of time. Okay then, goodbye.” Matt hung up and exhaled a deep breath. “Sorry it was my boss, who is also my dad. So he tends to go hard on me.” The corner of his mouth tugged up and he shrugged.

I pretended I didn’t hear most of what the man said. I raised an eyebrow. “That would be tough. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I just have a tight deadline to get some things done for my dad. He doesn’t think I will complete it in time.”

“When’s the deadline?”

“Monday.” He gave me a sheepish grin. “That’s why he’s getting worked up.”

“Wow, two days from now. Well, good luck with your project.” He stared at me a moment, saying nothing, his forehead creased and he looked concerned or maybe worried.

He might have been cute, but something was off with this guy. I decided to change the subject. “So, do you have any plans for the rest of your weekend, besides getting sucked into free labor?"

Matt shifted his gaze and ran his hand through his hair. “Nah, not really and I honestly didn’t mind. Your dad’s a nice guy. How about you?”

“No. Though you’d think I would, considering it’s my birthday weekend.”

Matt’s mouth curved into a lopsided grin. “You get a whole weekend?”

I nodded. “Haven’t you heard? It’s an unspoken rule. If your birthday falls on a school day you get an entire weekend to celebrate. Monday’s my actual birthday.”

He chuckled. “Is that so? Your eighteenth, I presume?”

“Yep, that’s the one.”

“It’s a big one, you’ll be an adult.” He smiled although it didn’t seem to reach his eyes.

“That’s what they keep saying. I don’t really see how, in two days time, I will be any different than I am right now.”

“You may not feel any different, but you can make choices for yourself, live by yourself, do just about anything you want and, of course, you have to live with your own mistakes.” With his far off gaze, his comment seemed more of an internal reflection than actually meant for me. He snapped out of it and joked, “When I put it that way, it doesn’t sound very fun, does it?”

“Not really, actually.” I laughed. We finished our lunch, gathered our trash and disposed of it at a nearby garbage bin.

“Well, Kylie, it was very nice meeting you. Please thank your dad again for lunch.”

“Nice meeting you too.” I smiled. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”

Matt’s smile faltered. “Yes, I’m sure you will.” He seemed about ready to walk away when he turned to me again. With a bit of hesitation he spoke, “It was nice getting to know you.” His eyes looked almost sad, as if he wanted to say more.

“Kylie, you– I’m–” he cleared his throat. “Happy early birthday.” With a quick, polite smile, he walked away.

“Thanks,” I muttered. Our lunch had been nice, but that guy was weird. It occurred to me then, that I had no car to get home. I walked back to the Liberal Arts building and into my dad’s office.

“Hey, honey. Did you guys have a good lunch?”

“Yeah, it was good. Matt’s nice, but kind of unusual.”

Dad’s eyebrows knitted together. “Really? He seemed nice enough. Maybe he was just a bit uncomfortable, having lunch with someone he didn’t know that well, a pretty someone at that.”

I rolled my eyes. “Who knows? Anyways, I came up here because I have no way to get home. Should I call Mom, or will you be done here soon?”

Dad glanced at the stack of papers on his desk. “Well, I have a little more to finish up. Why don’t you take my car home, and I will have your mom pick me up. Here are my keys.” He reached in his pocket and pulled them out. “I am parked in the staff lot just around this building. You know the one?”

“Yep.”

“Thanks for your help today.”

“No problem.” I gave him a hug and headed out.

* * * *

When I pulled into my driveway, my mom’s car was gone, which didn’t surprise me too much, she was probably out running errands or shopping, but what did surprise me was the visitor awaiting me on my front porch.

“Hey,” Grant said as I stepped out of my dad’s car.

“Hi. Have you been waiting long?”

“No, not too long. No one was home, so I thought I would wait around a minute.”

My heart raced. I couldn’t believe Grant was visiting me, and that he’d waited for me to get home.

“Well, want to come inside?”

His gaze shifted to my front door, then back to me.

“I can’t stay long, but I guess I can come in for a minute.”

My heart pounded like it would beat right out of my chest. I opened the front door and we both stepped in. “My parents are out. We have the house to ourselves.” My cheeks warmed. I couldn’t believe I just said that. It sounded like a cheesy come on. Grant smiled and surveyed my living room.

“Can I get you something to drink?”

“No, thank you. I just came to check on you.”

“You did?” My stomach did a flip.

Grant laughed. “You find that surprising?”

I blushed again and shrugged.

“I wanted to make sure you were okay after last night, well, and that we’re okay.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets.

I looked at him with confusion. “I’m fine. We’re fine. Why wouldn’t we be?”

Last night was so hazy. I hated that I couldn’t remember more.

Grant looked down at his shoe, then back at me. “I didn’t know if you were mad about the whole Bryce thing now that you’ve had more time to think about it.”

I thought back to last night. I remembered talking to Bryce on the patio and I remembered dancing with him. I chewed on my lip as I thought, then it hit me. I had been in the hall with the two boys while they argued. What had they argued about? Was it me?
Damn, what was it?
I knew Lexie said it was time to go and then I recalled driving home.

“I’m sorry, Grant. I can’t remember everything that happened last night, but on a good note that means I’m not mad at you.” I smiled at him, “Even if I had reason to, which I doubt I would, I can’t remember.”

He smiled and eyed my thoughtfully. “So you have no memory of getting home?”

“I remember a car ride.”

“With me?”

I thought about that. Yes, Grant drove, but where was Lexie? She was in a different car with his cousin, Conor.

“I take that as a no.”

I shrugged. “I’m sorry. I feel like such an idiot.” And I did. It wasn’t like me to drink too much, or really drink at all. I don’t know why I picked last night to do it. Then I remembered something else. Cerise. She was why I kept drinking. She tried to spill my drink on me, kept giving me ugly looks and said Grant thought I was pathetic.

I looked up at him. “I do remember Cerise being mean to me.”

His expression softened. “Well, I hope you remember me saying everything Cerise said was a lie. Mean lies, meant only to upset you.”

I looked down, then up at him smiling a little. “Well, she accomplished what she set out to do.”

He took a step forward and for a moment I thought he might reach out to me, but then he abruptly stopped. The tickling sensation his nearness brought reminded me of something else. Last night the intensity of the current had been magnified. Heat radiated off my face as I remembered asking him about it. I decided to pretend that was one of the things I couldn’t remember.

“So,” he attempted a subject change. “Did you have a good day today?”

“I guess. I helped my dad at work, but it was okay. He had some extra help so it went fast.”

“Do you have any plans for your birthday on Monday?”

I tilted my head and squinted. “How did you know it was my birthday?”

Grant opened his mouth as if about to speak, then hesitated. He shifted his weight and scratched his head. He cleared his throat and finally answered. “I think you told me last night, or maybe it was Lexie.” He shrugged.

My stomach swirled with excitement. Had he been asking around about me? Did he want to know as much about me as I wanted to know about him? One thing I was pretty sure of, I never told him my birthday was Monday.

“My parents have this work thing Monday night, and I told them we didn’t have to make a big deal out of celebrating my birthday. My mom willingly agreed–she’s in denial that I’m turning eighteen. Every time it’s mentioned she gets all choked up. She did promise me cake though, and I’m holding her to that one.” I laughed. “Other than that I actually don’t have anything exciting planned, besides school,” I added, my voice laced with sarcasm.

He laughed. “Well, we’ll have to change that. How about a birthday dinner?” My heart fluttered. “Bring Lexie,” he quickly added.

“That sounds fun, but you don’t have to do that.”

“I know, but I want to.”

Those three little words just turned my boring birthday into possibly the best one ever. I bit my bottom lip. “Okay. Sounds fun. I’ll tell Lexie.”

He smiled. “Good, and if you don’t mind, I will bring Conor.”

“No, not at all. Lexie and Conor seemed to have hit it off. That will be fun.”

Grant looked thoughtful for a minute. “They did, didn’t they? Conor rarely clicks with people. He tends to be quiet and expects the worst of people. His parents really messed him up.”

“That’s it,” I said. “That’s why they get along. For one, Lexie talks enough for two people, or a dozen.” He laughed. “And what you see, is what you get. She never pretends to be something she is not. Also, her mom and dad aren’t winning any parent of the year awards anytime soon, but instead of letting it get to her, she just brushes it off. I guess they are in similar situations, just looking at it from two different viewpoints. I think they balance each other out.”

“That sounds very possible.” Grant’s gaze drifted possibly thinking about what I’d just said. Finally earning me a nod. “Very insightful,” he teased.

I grinned. “Why thank you. It must have been that time at the community college today. It brought out the scholar in me.”

He laughed.

Chapter 7

Monday morning I woke up with a smile on my face. My first thought was Grant and my second thought was my dinner date with Grant. After getting ready for school, taking extra care with my hair and makeup, I headed downstairs. I found a white cake box with a note attached.